Monthly Archives: July 2010

Jokes:

Danger
One night a husband and his wife were sleeping and suddenly the wife woke up. “Dear, there’s a burglar eating the cake downstairs!” said the wife. “So should I call the police or the ambulance?” asked the husband.

Circles
During basic army training, a sergeant was telling his group how a submachine gun sprayed bullets. He drew a circle on a blackboard and announced that it had a 260 degree angle. “But, sergeant, all circles have 360 degrees,” called out a conscript. “Don’t be stupid,” the sergeant roared. “This is a small circle.”

Tee Time
Two men were talking about golf. One of them said, “I shoot in the 70’s.” The other replied, “That’s great!” The first one said, “Yeah, if it gets any cooler than that, I go to the clubhouse.”

Advisory:

Tech Tools:

Gradebook:

LearnBoost’s product allows teachers to manage their classroom by offering an amazing gradebook and software for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, integrating calendars including Google calendars, seamless tagging of Common Core State Standards, and so much more.
Manage your gradebook, lesson plans, calendars, scheduling, and more from one place: LearnBoost.
Once you switch, you’ll wonder what life was like before LearnBoost.Sign up for your free account!
Standards Supported
The majority of states have announced support for the Common Core Standards. We’re the first to fully support and integrate these leading standards across our gradebook and lesson plan software.
You’ll love how we let you “tag” standards to your lesson plans, gradebook, and more.http://www.learnboost.com/

LearnPort

A National Online Library of Professional Development Resources Compiled to Help Bridge Research, Policy and Practice.
Across states, national organizations and technical assistance investments, an extensive amount of professional development material is available. This library provides local educators with easy access to an array of resources that can be used or customized to meet their needs.http://www.learningport.us/

Webspotlight:

Schoolwide
Videos useful for Professional Development.
The Schoolwide Network was created in response to the lack of quality video (and print) resources available on the Internet today. With all of the rich media now available via the Internet and mobile technologies, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information being pushed toward us and our children every day.

Schoolwide believes, however, that it is quality—not quantity—that defines any successful educational practice or professional development enterprise. Since our inception, quality has always been at the core of our educational efforts, from the very first Student-Run Bookstore that got us started to the thousands of Fundamentals Units of Study we have sold to school districts across the country.

Schoolwide also believes that with so much information just a keystroke away, never before has the need for practical and useful professional development resources been more paramount. To this end, our primary objective is to provide educators with the tools and resources to help them be better teachers for their students—not only with the quality content we provide but also in the way we present, organize, and provide educators access to this information.http://www.schoolwidenetwork.com/?search_type=grade_9

“Our district goal that every student is using technology to engage in learning customized to their needs, master rigorous content which develops 21st century literacy skills and culminates in college readiness.”

Articulating the vision: Support learning activities delivered from a shared knowledge of principles of effective learning with multiple opportunities …

Summit feedback: The online learning summit participants recognized that a successful launch of a PUSD Virtual High School will require:

Storm the stage. Alternate title.
Chris.wikispace.com
Ten Considerations for Technology Leadership
Equity of access. (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/equity)
This should include access at home.
We should have this between 8 & 3:30
We should not use tech as a reward but as a tool.
Our problem is not enough tech to use in the classroom.
Understanding and Using Data. (http://pewinternet.org/)
Rigor and relevance.
Effective Professional Development. (http://www.nsdc.org/)
Think individual schools and individual grades.
Walk the walk, talk the talk. (http://www.edutopia.org/)
We have to model the tech we want people to use.
Vision: collaborative and authentic: http://tinyurl.com/istelead
Using a google survey/form in a faculty meeting.
Establish a Common Vision (http://profilerpro.com/)
Does everyone speak the same language and work toward the same ultimate goals? Does everyone see where technology can take us?
Reward and encourage innovation. (http://www.iste.org/)
Do we encourage, praise, reward those who move forward, innovate, show growth? Are some of your non-techies at this conference?
Look for the ASCD survey on rewards
Genuine Reflection (http://docs.google.com/)
NSD says that reflection is critical to integrating PD.
Student-driven technology (http://genyes.com/)
Get student managers. They are less likely to disengage if they’re able to offer expertise on issues.
PLN. (http://www.twitter.com/ #edchat)
Do you rely on only yourself or journals?
Your topic is …?
Why is that important?

Jokes:

Counting
A man rushed into a doctor’s office, jumped on his back, and started screaming, “One! Two! Three! Four!” “Wait a minute!” yelled the doctor, trying to get free. “What do you think you’re doing?” The man said, “Well doctor, they did say I could count on you!”

On Our Mind:

ISTE 2010 Swag!

Listeners:

Letter 1:
“Hi guys,
I listened to the June 26 podcast today while driving to my summer job, (a teacher with a summer job?!). Thanks for the moderation of the the theme music. I enjoyed the discussion and your thoughts. I teach at a fairly small rural school and our cell phone policy is pretty simple. You can have it. You can use it with permission in class, it sits on the desktop, off, no ringer, no vibrate. I find that you are using it, without permission, you have lost it for 24 hours, or until the next time class meets, (don’t get caught on a Friday!) you can use it at passing times and at lunch.
The high school was pretty good with this policy, it was a group of HS students that convinced our principal to adopt this policy. The MS kids had a harder time with it, there were a small number that just could not follow these simple rules. I am not sure where we will be with this policy next year. We are going to 1 to 1 computers (MacBook) in 6-12 next year so there will be a lot of changes in the next school year.
Keep up the good work, summer is about over, argh!!! ;)”

Craig

Letter 2:
Shawn and Troy~~

I wanted to share how much I enjoy your podcasts. They actually make me look forward to my daily exercise when I have to opportunity to listen. I have just started listening and I am catching up on old ones.

Your topics and enthusiasm give me a refreshed outlook for the school year. I have been spending the last 2 hours reviewing your webpage and found so many interesting links. In a time that can be very negative toward education, you have given me a reason to continue my positive outlook and remind me each time I listen why I got into teaching.

On behalf of the stakeholder and partner organizations of the Michigan Joint Education Conference (MIJEC), I want to express my appreciation to you for sharing your expertise with the attendees of last month’s conference at Thurston High School in South Redford.

By sharing your best practices with other educators, you enhanced our conference and helped to further the professional development of our attendees.

I hope that you will consider presenting next year’s Michigan Joint Education Conference, which will be held on Wednesday, June 22. Watch the MIJEC website for announcements concerning our call for presenters.

Thanks again for your participation in the 2010 Michigan Joint Education Conference.

“Our district goal that every student is using technology to engage in learning customized to their needs, master rigorous content which develops 21st century literacy skills and culminates in college readiness.”

Articulating the vision: Support learning activities delivered from a shared knowledge of principles of effective learning with multiple opportunities …

Summit feedback: The online learning summit participants recognized that a successful launch of a PUSD Virtual High School will require:

On-going staff development in online pedagogy.

Teacher Union/Administrative Counseling suport.

Curriculum alignment with PUSD and CA standards.

Technical Support

Sufficient, sustainable technical resources.

Competition was a driving force.

Modeling and embedding principles of effective learning and teaching.

Tier 1: Basic integration

Tier 2: Integrated practices.

Tier 3: Thought Leaders

Professional Development

1. Directly engage staff

2. Leverage technology

3. Create alternative evaluations

All of this comes with a pay raise.

TLC: Teaching and Learning Cooperatives

Partnership: Poway USD and California State University

Distinguished Professor in Residence Grant

360 Hours of support

Professional expertise and experience

Polling question: Should teachers be certified to teach online?

Audience answer: 25% yes.

Health is one of the first things that high schools take online.

“Learning Point Portal” on the screen now.

Teacher Pay

$2500 to develop the course.

If they teach the course, they get a fractional pay for it.

Additional pay if they are teaching outside their content area.

Site to check out: http://floridaitunesu.org

Find interesting ways to have conversations in an on-line settng.

INACOL: Standards (not a perfect match)

Essential Elements: Concord Consortium

PUSD Virtual School

Discussion Forums

It is important that these kids talk.

It led to kids reconnecting with kids they had been friends with at other schools.

Scaffolding for success

Constant communication in multiple mediums.

If they fell below the 70% line, parents were called by the grading software.

Say your school board wants to cut your pay, your state legislature wants to tax your health benefits by 3%, and your principal doesn’t want to spend money for you to attend a conference. What do you do? Attend an UnConference! Edubloggercon is an unconference you can attend on the web. Unlike Classroom 2.0 that has a preset agenda, UnConferences are an ad hoc gathering centered around the topics the attendees brainstorm in the opening session. Best part? You don’t have to be physically present to attend some of the sessions. Some UnConferences will stream sessions out onto the web for remote viewers’ benefit. Edubloggercon East is one such event coming up this Monday. They’ve posted a Ustream link for Monday’s event and asked folks to watch for the #ebce10 hashtag on Twitter. Or click here . . .

Jokes:

Serious Questions
A police recruit was asked during the exam, “What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?” He said: “Call for backup.”

Great News
While eating in an expensive restaurant, a patron overheard the gentleman at the next table ask the waitress to pack the leftovers for their dog. It was then that his young son exclaimed loudly, “Whoopee! We’re going to get a dog.”

Lord Send Me A Hundred
A little boy wanted $100 badly and prayed for two weeks but nothing happened. Then he decided to write a letter to the Lord requesting the $100. When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to the Lord, USA, they decided to send it to the President. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill, as this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5.00, and sat down to write a thank-you note to the Lord. It said: Dear Lord, Thank you very much for sending me the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington, DC and as usual, those jerks deducted $95.

On Our Mind:

ISTE 2010 and Back Channels . . .
What do you get when you mash up a former VP of the World Bank, a PowerPoint, and a bunch of tech savvy educators?

Listeners:

Teachers in Illinois use iPod Touch to customize lessons
One Illinois school district will have teachers and students using iPod Touch devices in classrooms this fall. District staff received 15 hours of training on using the devices for individualizing lessons and helping students improve reading fluency by listening to their recorded voices reading aloud. “This is the way students are wired to learn, and we are looking at every method to make learning more engaging and stimulating for our students and teaching more exciting for our staff,” the district’s superintendent said.
David Bydlowski
Science Consultant

Word Games

Google Apps Education Training Center

Welcome to the Google Apps Education Training Center. This is an online learning environment dedicated for educators and students to learn how to effectively use Google Apps in an educational context.
Access to a Google Apps Education account is strongly recommended so that you can experiment and apply what you learn.http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home

“Storm the stage” – Alternate title.
His website: Chris.wikispace.com and this presentation’s site: http://leaders.wikispaces.com/
T to (?)
Equity of access.
This should include access at home.
We should have this between 8 & 3:30
We should not use tech as a reward but as a tool.
Our problem is not enough tech to use in the classroom.
Understanding and Using Data.
Rigor and relevance.
Effective Professional Development.
Think individual schools and individual grades.
Walk the walk, talk the talk.
We have to model the tech we want people to use.
Vision: collaborative and authentic: http://tiny url.com/istelead
Using a google survey/form in a faculty meeting.
Vision.
Write down what your technology vision is for your school/district/students.
Have the staff write down what their technology vision for your school/district/students.
Throw it into wordle and see what commonalities pop up and what differences you need to address.
Reward growth.
Look for the ASCD survey on rewards.
Reward those who push themselves outside of their comfort zones.
Genuine Reflection
NSD says that reflection is critical to integrating PD.
Student-driven technology
Get student managers
PLN. You need one. Your teachers need one.

There seems to be a bit of push back regarding the Common Core Standards. Many seem to be disappointed at President Obama’s continuation and extension of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind. Make no mistake, we are headed toward a national test. Interesting when other nations are realizing the strength of the American system.Read Yong Zhao’s “Catching Up…Or Leading the Way” for a different perspective on national testing. Anyway, a letter by Cindy Lutenbacher, Professor at Morehouse is currently making the rounds. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here: